PEPFAR is at a critical turning point in its decade-long existence. The next US Global AIDS Coordinator is uniquely positioned to set the course for the program’s future. A change in leadership at the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief creates an opportunity to ask questions about the organization and reflect in more general terms on the US response to the global AIDS epidemic.
Former US Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby and his team helped establish the ambitious goal of an “AIDS-free generation” and spurred the creation of a better evidence base to guide PEPFAR’s programmatic decisions. The program has also benefited from a number of recent high-level external reviews conducted by the US Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), all of which lay out detailed priority areas for improvement in the program.
The challenge for the next US Global AIDS Coordinator will be to prioritize and implement the recommendations that have emerged from these analyses and reviews, building on new and existing science to make the most progress possible toward an AIDS-Free Generation.
Priority 1: Align the Vision, Strategy, and Budget
Priority 2: Strengthen Key Management and Accountability Relationships
Priority 3: Contextualize and Catalyze Country Ownership
Priority 4: Establish more Visible Leadership